


A system of impenetrable sighs

by victoria_p (musesfool)



Category: DCU Animated, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-28
Updated: 2011-02-28
Packaged: 2017-10-16 00:22:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/166446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesfool/pseuds/victoria_p
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Superboy doesn't understand what the big deal is about kissing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A system of impenetrable sighs

While the others have school or whatever it is they do when they're not at Happy Harbor, Superboy and M'gann spend the time they're not training hanging out and watching movies. M'gann tends to look at him a lot, and then turn back towards the television when he looks over at her in response, so all he can see is the flushed curve of her cheek. She sighs a lot, too, and he can't tell if they're happy or sad sighs, or if she's as bored with some of the stuff they watch as he is. He doesn't like it when she sighs, though. He doesn't like not understanding things.

The scientists at Cadmus equipped him with a lot of basic knowledge, enough that so far no one has decided he should go to school or anything, which is good, because he thinks it must be really boring, and anyway, he doesn't have a real name. He's not even supposed to exist. But he knows a lot of things he supposes the others are learning in school, like how biology works; he understands that his body has urges and they're natural--or as natural as anything about him is--and he takes care of them. Kissing isn't one of the things he imagines when he does. (He wouldn't have known what to imagine if Robin hadn't hacked the parental controls so they could watch porn when Red Tornado's not around, but now he's got it all figured out.) He doesn't think things are different for girls, even girls who are Martians.

"Kissing doesn't make any sense," he tells her one day after the hero rescues the heroine and they start making out. "It serves no biological function."

"It feels nice," she says. Her cheeks flush and she looks down at her hands. "Not that I've ever--but I've heard--" She trails off into confused and embarrassed silence.

"Why do you care?" he says, frustrated. "You're not even human."

She flinches, which makes him feel like he just kicked a puppy or something. Since that time he yelled at her for reading his mind without permission, he's tried to be nicer to her, but sometimes she makes him feel like a big clumsy jerk, no matter what he does. He's pretty sure Kaldur doesn't have these problems, but Kaldur isn't here.

"No, but I would like to fit in." Her voice is so soft he can barely hear it. "I would like people to like me."

"Wally likes you."

She laughs nervously. "I would like the person I like to like me."

"You don't like Wally?"

"I like him," she says, glancing up at him through her eyelashes, "but not like that."

He tries to match the emphasis she put on the words. "Like _that_?"

She meets his gaze for a second, then looks away again. "I don't want to kiss him."

"I don't want to kiss him either," he says, which makes her laugh. He likes that a lot better than making her flinch.

"But you don't want to kiss anyone," she points out. "You think it serves no purpose."

"There's only one way to settle this." He turns his whole body towards her and puts his hands on her shoulders.

Her eyes open wide and her eyebrows fly up in shock. "What?"

He stops her question with his mouth. He tries to replicate what he's seen in the movies they've watched, so he moves his lips against hers and puts his tongue in her mouth. It's warm and wet and tastes like the popcorn they've been eating. She was right. It feels...nice. He touches her tongue with his and thinks nice is too weak a word for it. Obviously, the scientists left a few things out when they filled his head with stuff.

She makes a soft little squeaking sound and then pushes him away. She's blushing again. "Please don't do that."

He blinks at her in surprise. "I thought you wanted--" He stops and tries again. "I'm sorry?"

"I--I don't want you to kiss me because you're trying to prove a point, and I don't want you to kiss me because you feel sorry for me." Her voice quavers just a little and he feels that tight, sad, kicked puppy feeling again, right in his chest. "I only want you to kiss me because you want to."

And then she disappears.

He's too antsy to sit still; he starts another workout, all the while wondering what to do. He could call Kaldur--he's probably the only one on the team who wouldn't laugh or yell at him--but he doesn't know if that would make it worse with M'gann and he doesn't want to do that. He doesn't think she'll let him kiss her again if he tells everyone about it, and he really wants to kiss her again.

He knocks on her door. "Hey," he says, leaning his forehead against the cool metal and hoping she can hear him. "I'm sorry." She doesn't say anything, so he offers, "You were right."

The door slides open and she's standing there, arms crossed over her chest. "I was?"

"Yeah, you were."

"Okay." She gives him a bright smile. "Thanks." She turns and moves to shut the door.

"Wait." He puts a hand on her shoulder and she glances back at him. Her hair brushes over his fingers and he shivers, which is weird. He didn't think his skin was that sensitive. "We could try it again," he says, "just to make sure."

Her laugh sounds breathless even though she hasn't done anything but stand in the doorway. "We could?"

"If you want to." He shrugs a shoulder.

She tilts her head and looks up at him from under her lashes again. "Do you want to?"

"Yeah," he says, taking a step closer and grinning, "I think I do."

This time when he kisses her, she melts against him, sighing into his mouth. He feels like he's got electric currents running under his skin and his hands shake a little when he touches her. Kissing might not serve any biological function, but it definitely feels better than nice.

end

~*~

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Syntax" by D. Nurske.


End file.
